H. B. 2855
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss)
[Introduced March 3, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §18A-4-7b of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to placing a limit of ten years on
the amount of time that a teacher who returns to work after
terminating employment may retain his or her accrued
seniority.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §18A-4-7b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. SALARIES, WAGES AND OTHER BENEFITS.
§18A-4-7b. Calculation of seniority for professional personnel.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the
contrary, seniority for professional personnel as defined in
section one, article one, chapter eighteen-a of this code, shall be
calculated pursuant to the provisions of section seven-a of this
article as well as the following: Provided, That any recalculation of seniority of a professional personnel employee that may be
required in order to remain consistent with the provisions
contained herein shall be calculated retroactively, but shall not
be utilized for the purposes of reversing any decision that has
been made or grievance that has been filed prior to the effective
date of this section:
(a) A professional employee shall begin to accrue seniority
upon commencement of the employee's duties.
(b) An employee shall receive seniority credit for each day
the employee is professionally employed regardless of whether the
employee receives pay for that day: Provided, That no employee
shall receive seniority credit for any day the employee is
suspended without pay pursuant to section eight, article two of
this chapter: Provided, however, That an employee who is on an
approved leave of absence shall accrue seniority during the period
of time that the employee is on the approved leave of absence.
(c) Any professional employee whose employment with a county
board of education is terminated either voluntarily or through a
reduction-in-force shall, upon reemployment with the same board of
education in a regular full-time position, receive credit for all
seniority previously accumulated with the board of education at the
date the employee's employment was terminated: Provided, That such
reemployment occurs within ten years of the date of last
employment.
(d) Any professional employee whose employment has been
terminated through reduction in force and whose name is on the
preferred recall list shall retain all accumulated seniority for
the purpose of seeking reemployment with the county from which he
or she was terminated and nothing in this section may be construed
to the contrary.
(e) Any professional employee employed for a full employment
term but in a part-time position shall receive seniority credit for
each day of employment prorated to the proportion of a full
employment day the employee is required to work: Provided, That
nothing herein allows a regular full-time employee to be credited
with less than a full day of seniority credit for each day the
employee is employed by the board: Provided, however, That this
calculation of seniority for part-time professional personnel is
prospective and does not reduce any seniority credit accumulated by
any employee prior to the effective date of this section: Provided
further, That for the purposes of this section a part-time employee
shall be defined as an employee who is employed less than three and
one-half hours per day.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to place a limit of ten
years on the amount of time that a teacher who returns to work
after terminating employment may retain his or her accrued
seniority.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.